John Kerry told American voters yesterday to “wake up” and realize they have a choice for a different direction in a president and commander in chief when they go to the polls on Tuesday.
In what is expected to be his final “closing argument” speech of the campaign, Mr. Kerry told an audience in Orlando, Fla., that the election comes down to the fact that President Bush has said he would do everything the same again, and that doesn’t bode well for the next four years.
He asked voters to view the election through the eyes of a young woman “[who] will pick up her ballot and think about her future,” worried about finding a job and juggling work and family while falling behind.
And see through the eyes of a wife whose husband is in Iraq: “She’ll wonder how much longer he’ll have to stay in Iraq, and when she’ll see him again. And she will wonder whether we can afford four more years of a president who’s unwilling to admit the mistakes he has made, and says he would do everything all over again exactly the same.
“On Tuesday, you have the choice to give her hope. You have the choice to give America a fresh start in Iraq,” Mr. Kerry said.
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Mr. Kerry was “lecturing the American people.”
“Telling America to ’wake up’ is not a message for the future, it is the cry of a flailing candidate who has no momentum and is reaching the end of the line,” he said.
Later in the day, as news came of a tape with Osama bin Laden, Mr. Kerry released a statement saying that “as Americans, we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists.”
Asked about the effects of the tape on the presidential race, campaign adviser Mike McCurry said he was “not going to talk about politics in connection to this.”
“The American people are not going to let Osama bin Laden deny them the opportunity to hear the debate that they’ve been hearing between the candidates,” Mr. McCurry told reporters traveling with the Kerry campaign.
He said Mr. Kerry now will turn his attention back to his message of the choice facing American voters.
“He’s going to continue to make the case that we’re making in the closing days of the campaign as we outlined it to you this morning and he’ll continue to speak, you know, the war on terror, and economic issues and Social Security, very similar to the way we’ve been doing it all day today,” he said.
Mr. Kerry spent the day campaigning in Florida, the most populous state still considered up for grabs this year, calling on Republicans, Democrats and independents to support him.
“It is time for America to put the politics of polarization behind us,” he said. “It is time for America to renew the faith that there is something for everyone single one of us to do — and challenges each of us to try.”
For the past four days, Mr. Kerry had been hammering Mr. Bush about news reports that suggested explosives may have been looted from an Iraqi military installation while the United States was in control of that nation. But yesterday he dropped that attack, instead presenting a broader argument about where he believes the presidential campaign will turn.
“This election is a choice between four more years of tax giveaways for millionaires along with a higher tax burden for you, or a president who will cut middle-class taxes, raise the minimum wage, and make sure we guarantee women an equal day’s pay for an equal day’s work,” he said.
On a conference call with reporters, a cadre of Kerry advisers said they believe the Democrat is now well-positioned for the final few days and, more important, Mr. Bush is poorly positioned.
Pollster Stan Greenberg said most polls show Mr. Bush with support of 47 percent of voters nationally, which he said isn’t good enough for an incumbent to win.
He also said his polls find that Democrats are now as strong in their support of Mr. Kerry as Republicans had been for several weeks in their support of Mr. Bush.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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